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Man gets 2 years for firing gun during Campbell fight
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum said taking matters into your own hands never works well, just before he sentenced a man Wednesday to two years in prison for firing a gun while trying to break up a fight outside the defendant’s home.
The judge told Marcus Powell, 45, of Campbell, during Powell’s sentencing hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that he has no idea why people continue to act first without calling for help.
“Nobody ever wins in a situation like that,” Judge Krichbaum said. “Why people keep doing it, I don’t understand.”
Powell was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of intimidation of a victim or witness to a crime, being a felon in possession of a firearm and a specification that a firearm was used to commit the crime.
He was arrested July 3 after a fight outside his Chambers Street home in Campbell. Assistant Prosecutor Natasha Natale said there was a large fight between a group of juveniles outside, and Powell went outside with a gun. Some witnesses said he fired the gun in the air to break up the fight and others said he fired the gun into the crowd.
No one was injured.
Judge Krichbaum called the intimidation charge “BS,” saying it was a stretch, but Natale said she thought it was necessary because of the young age of the victim, who was 15 at the time.
The sentence and plea were agreed on between Natale and defense attorney Tom Zena.
Zena said the fight outside Powell’s home went on for several minutes before Powell came outside with the gun.
Powell apologized, saying he regrets what he did.
“I apologize, sir, for my actions,” Powell said. “It’s hurting real bad. It’s sad that I did that, but I can’t take it back. I apologize.”
Scott got jail-time credit of six days he served after he was arrested while awaiting the outcome of his case.